Year in Review: EBN’s Top 10 Electronics Supply Chain Stories

The electronics industry was rife with change in 2014, and the supply chain has become increasingly strategic for electronics OEMs. On EBN, a quick look at what topics garnered the most attention in 2014 says a lot about where we are as an industry, and it points to where we might be going.

First, clearly all eyes are on the biggest players in the market. For example, the legal battle between the semiconductor maker Xilinx and the contract manufacturing giant Flextronics drove attention to the problem of counterfeit components. Meanwhile, the LSI/Avago merger pointed to further consolidation in the component marketplace. As always, news of Apple's supply chain gathered momentum as naysayers and fans alike focused on what the computer products monolith did with its supply chain.

Further, technology evolution, from the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data to 3D printing, has moved center stage. Supply chain pros are looking at how to serve the increasing demand for these technologies, as well as how this evolution can make what the supply chain does easier and more effective.

Finally, in the coming year, staffing the electronics supply chain promises to be among the biggest challenges. It's becoming increasingly clear that the industry is facing an aging workforce and changing demands on employees. Smart companies are already thinking about how to attract and retain female and millennial workers, two underrepresented groups in the electronics supply chain today.

We hope you got a chance to hear from EBN's industry voices on these and other topics. In case you missed them, here's our list of the most popular articles in 2014:

Nice selection, Hailey. And here we go again. 😀 It's going to be super interesting to see how all these topics continue to develop this year. In the technology innovations front, for instance, there pleanty already flourishing with strength awaiting the culmination of the predictions for 2020.

There is also a glimpse of change that might occur as some companies look more into attracting and retaining underrepresented groups in the industry, and then others might follow.

Thanks for listing the top 10. We should all expect an exciting 2015 and who knows what stories will make up our top 10 next year. Apple wil lbe in there again but I expect Chinese design and manf to become more prevalent as they get their teeth into the consumer market and create real brand image.

Thanks for listing the top 10. We should all expect an exciting 2015 and who knows what stories will make up our top 10 next year. Apple wil lbe in there again but I expect Chinese design and manf to become more prevalent as they get their teeth into the consumer market and create real brand image.

“Finally, in the coming year, staffing the electronics supply chain promises to be among the biggest challenges. It's becoming increasingly clear that the industry is facing an aging workforce and changing demands on employees. Smart companies are already thinking about how to attract and retain female and millennial workers, two underrepresented groups in the electronics supply chain today.”

Hailey, eventhough there may be shortage of talented professionals; automation or technology can be a substitute to an extent. I think retaining female employees are very easy and the same is adopting by many Multi National companies like IBM, HP etc. they are offering special incentives and facilities for their female employees.

@Susan, yes, it will be interesting. I predict that analytics will remain a hot topic as weill professional development, hiring, and staffing. Lets' open it up to readers. Are there topics you would like to hear more about in the coming months? Chime in here and we'll see what we can do.

@FlyingScot, the eyes of the world seem to be on Apple but there are other supply chains in large organizations that can teach us a lot. I hope we'll get to hear more about them. For example, i think contract manufacturers such as Jabil and Flextronics have a lot to teach us about design, manufacturing, supply chain, anti-counterfeiting and more.

“yes, it will be interesting. I predict that analytics will remain a hot topic as weill professional development, hiring, and staffing. Lets' open it up to readers. Are there topics you would like to hear more about in the coming months? Chime in here and we'll see what we can do.”

Hailey, big data analysis!! Some of the companies are using such datas lie retention period of families (Husband & wife in same company), talent level (average to medium level) etc for long term projects. Outcomes of such analysis shows that brain drain is less when compare with high talented peoples or single earning families.